Life Inside the Brittas Empire
by whatevergirl
Summary: Stories in and around the events of the Brittas Empire (series 1).
1. The Beginning

_I do not own the Brittas Empire and I make no money from writing this fanfiction._

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><p>Tim sighed as he leaned his head against Gavin's shoulder. It was the end of a long day and they were settled down on the sofa watching A Bit of Fry and Laurie. For the first time, they had met the man they would be working for: Gordon Brittas.<p>

The man was somewhat frustrating. He had been very interested in getting started; however he had begun without getting to know any of the staff at all. He had been all smiles without listening to a word anyone said. Tim was hoping that it was just because he was nervous about starting a new job, but he had a horrible feeling that Mr Brittas was always like that.

The rest of the staff were… curious. Tim had been somewhat worried by Colin, deputy manager (wet). The man seemed to have several skin conditions. He rather hoped they would not have to be in the pool at the same time… ever… He really didn't want to catch anything. He was friendly though.

Linda was nice. Despite the problems that had been surrounded with their first day, before they had even opened, Linda had been smiling through it all. Angie had scared him a little, but he thought she might cheer up once they got used to Brittas.

Neil, the table tennis maniac, had been decidedly odd. Tim was optimistic that the man would not be coming back, especially not after trying to kill the new manager. Patrick and Danny were cool. Patrick had been showing off his wedding photos; he was actually pretty handsome in them.

Carole was another one Tim was worried by. He was fairly certain he had seen her shut her baby in one of the drawers, but maybe that had just been the stress of the day.

Thankfully, Tim thought as he turned to cuddled into Gavin's chest, there was one decidedly sane person in the centre who could actually make herself heard; Laura. He really hoped she didn't follow the others and walk out. It'd be a tragedy.

"Tea?" murmured Gavin, though he relaxed position implied he wasn't actually keen to get up.

"Not unless you want one." He replied.

They had tomorrow and Wednesday off, then they would get to meet the Duchess of Kent as she opened the centre officially.

* * *

><p>Gavin grinned as he watched Tim's cotton clad arse. The man was hunting for something to wear that would keep him warm. Angie had phoned to check they hadn't quit as well, apparently several people had. She had informed them that they still hadn't got a new heating engineer in and that the front doors were still faulty.<p>

"It's going to be freezing." Tim was groaning.

"So stick a pair of tights on."

"I don't think I have any to match my uniform."

"You have that blue pair."

"They're too thick." Tim's arse dropped to the carpet and he turned to look up at his boyfriend. "I don't want to melt."

"Oh, just wear them. Hopefully Mr Brittas will get it all sorted out soon anyway. It's not as though we are on pool duty today."

"Right…" Tim sighed and pulled his tights out the door. Gavin watched mournfully as those lovely legs were covered in thick fabric and his lover pulled up the tiny blue shorts to hide the exact shape of his delicious buttocks as well. Thankfully, they also covered up the bite mark Gavin had left on the inside of Tim's thighs. It was too low to be covered up by his shorts, which was possibly why Tim was letting himself get talked into wearing the pair of blue tights he didn't much like anymore.

He headed into the bathroom to clean his teeth, listening to his lover complain about a variety of other things, from the fact that they had to wear hats with their names on to the bad feeling he had about Brittas. Gavin left him to it, trying to make himself presentable. He still couldn't believe he and Timmy had managed to get a job in the same place. They would get to be around each other even when they were working.

He just hoped neither of them slipped up and let anyone know they were lovers. Tim had only just turned eighteen a few weeks earlier, on the 25th of August and Gavin's twenty first birthday wasn't until November. Neither of them were old enough to be in a sexual relationship with each other.

Their landlord had been suspicious of them, but Tim's mother had blown his concerns away with her determination. She didn't mind how old they were, as long as he looked after Timmy and made sure the young man phoned her at least once a week.

There was another concern mixed in there; Tim had lied about his name on his application form. While the court order allowed him to bury his past, if they ever had to present proof of identity, Tim would have problems.

"Stop getting yourself worked up." Tim's voice drifted gently through the air. His boyfriend was leaning against the doorframe, a smirk on his face. He was dressed fully now, his shorts, tights, socks and trainers on the bottom, his polo shirt, bum-bag and cap on top. Gavin rinsed his mouth out and walked over to the young man.

"I'm sure it will be fine." How bad could Brittas be, after all? Gavin leaned in to kiss Tim, rubbing his lips softly against his nose. "It'll be fine."

Tim gripped his fingers as they gathered the rest of their stuff and headed out.

* * *

><p>Gavin sighed as he sat in the staff restroom. Tim still hadn't come down. He had come back in earlier on, taken one look at Gavin and headed up to see Angie.<p>

He ran his fingers through his hair. He knew he shouldn't have gone out with James on Tuesday, but the man was moving away in a few weeks and Gavin had wanted to have one last night out with him before that. He had had to lie to Tim about it though; the young man was so sensitive about things, and he got very insecure when he saw Gavin near anyone else.

He really had no idea how to reassure him that there was nothing to worry about. James was the first friend he had made after moving up here, nothing more.

"Sorry Gavin." Linda came in and sat down in one of the chairs. "We said you had probably just met someone on the way back from your mother's and popped in for a pint. He was ok with that."

"But…"

"Mr Brittas had a word with him in his office before seeing me. When I came back out Tim was upset again."

Gavin huffed and hid his face. No one had ever explained what to do about this. His aunt, in all her explanations of how to woo a girl, had never explained how to keep your boyfriend happy. His parents had moved to Fiji when Gavin had gotten into to trouble at that gym; they would be most annoyed if he phoned them to ask how to cheer his male partner up. That was where the trouble had started.

He watched as Linda stood up and hurried out, probably going to talk to Tim. He had a suspicious feeling that they hadn't actually hidden their relationship very well.

The door opened and Tim stepped in, arms crossed across his chest and a scowl on his face.

"Timmy… I'm sorry."

Tim continued to scowl at him, his lips pursing slightly as he fought back tears.

"We really only did pop in for a little bit. I met him on my way home." Strictly speaking, there were no lies in there. Gavin had met James on his way home from the shops. Tim didn't need to know that it had been arranged earlier on, or that his mother wasn't actually in the country anymore.

"Really?" His voice was soft and quivered slightly. Gavin stayed back though, he'd wait for Tim to forgive him first.

"Really."

Tim stepped forward, his eyes staring off to the side, but his wish clear. Gavin wrapped his arms around Tim.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

Tim pressed his face into his boyfriend's neck as he returned the embrace.

"Oh, sorry." Laura's voice interrupted them. "I need someone to check on the pool though, if you two wouldn't mind?"

"Sure." Tim nodded, stepping back. "Remember, we'll get to meet the Duchess and then today will be over."

Gavin smiled at her, his stress melting away as he realised that Tim was speaking to him. He pressed a soft kiss to his lips and they headed off together.

* * *

><p>Things just got better and better; the centre kept getting hotter and hotter. Patrick smiled at him exhaustedly at him and said to keep an eye out for Satan waltzing past… It was hot enough.<p>

Then as he headed out from the swimming pool, he saw a man on the floor. There was a metal rod on the floor nearby… He called out to Linda as he fell to his knees. The young man had to be Laura's friend that she had invited to stand in William's place.

He wasn't moving, but he was breathing.

Brittas came down and helpfully pointed out that he was unconscious as Linda explained he must have been electrocuted.

Gavin called Laura down to reception before heading off to find an electrician.

There was a group of pensioners in the badminton courts, a group of boy scouts by the changing rooms, they were going to be swimming later but the pool needed sorting out first, there were some families from a local parish in the main hall and then there were the various staff members.

It was a shame they didn't have more information on those they did have in the centre. It would have been far quicker, he mused, if they had had a list of everyone on site and what their professions were.

He past Tim and Danny on his way to the badminton courts. There was sweat dripping off their faces and neither looked terribly happy. Tim mouthed 'Duchess of Kent' at him while grinning wryly. Gavin nodded his head as he looked for the pensioners. They had something to focus on as an end point to all this.

The badminton courts were empty though, so Gavin turned and jogged back down the corridor.

"Tim? Danny? Have you seen the Saga Badminton Club?"

"Laura took them to our dear manager's office before they melted, I think." Tim rolled his eyes as he spoke.

"I need an electrician."

"You won't find one in there." Danny told him. "I was talking to them earlier and they kept talking about how things used to be. There are a few grocers and three farmers though."

"Wonderful." Gavin felt his shoulders droop. He nipped the front of his shirt and wafted it to try and get a breeze on his skin.

"Aren't there some parents down by the hall?"

"Yeah. I'm heading there next."

He jogged on as the heat continued to increase. At this rate the Duchess wouldn't want to step inside the building.

"Excuse me?" Gavin called as he stopped in front of the hall, where there was a crowd of about fifteen people. "Is there an electrician here?"

The crowd was silent. It wasn't a silence filled with any curiosity, or even the silence of careful listeners; it was an exhausted silence. Everyone was slumped on the ground, water bottles rapidly emptying. A few people shook their heads, but no one was really paying him any attention.

He headed towards the swimming pools.

Thankfully the scout leader was accommodating. He told Kevin, on of the boys, to go with Gavin and give them a hand.

"You're an electrician are you?" grumbled Gavin, unhappily.

"Closer as your gonna get." Replied the boy cockily. He had a point though, so Gavin didn't argue.

After handing the kid over, Gavin began trying to phone the boiler room again. His clothes were sticking uncomfortably to his skin. He hoped Tim would have enough sense to take his tights off and stick them in the locker, bite mark or no bite mark.

The phone rang and rang. No one replied. Gavin dropped his head down into his arms, but only for a moment, his skin was too sweaty to rest comfortably there. He could hear others coming into the reception area.

He pulled himself up. Brittas was sending Danny and Patrick off to check on the groups they had sat around, they were to take a large jug of water or two to each of them. Tim was sat on the stairs, his cap still on his head and his tights still on his legs. Molly was on the floor next to him.

Laura and Michael, her friend, were now leaning against a wall and Linda was looking at the plans. Brittas joined her again as Kevin continued to stick the wires back in.

As their manager tried to calm everyone down, Tim began to panic. He had no confidence in Kevin's ability to fix the door.

"He'll never do it! We're going to die. We're all going to die!"

"Tim, Tim. It's okay." Whispered Gavin, crouching down in front of his lover. He ran his hands along the young man's legs in a comforting way. Tim's beautiful blue eyes stared straight into his own. "He'll do it."

"One more wire." Called out the Boy Scout.

As Brittas used this information to reassure them, Molly fainted. Megan and Phil stared blankly ahead, and neither Tim nor Gavin moved to help her. They continued to focus on each other.

Then, Laura delivered more bad news: The Duchess of Kent had arrived. Hastily pulling back on his coat, Brittas ordered them to all line up again. Gavin used the excuse to hold Tim's hand as he helped the other man up.

Timmy gave him an exhausted smile before bobbing down to check on Molly. She managed to stagger to her feet.

In the end, all their panic about where to stand was pointless. Although Mr Brittas had planned to bring the woman up though the boiler room, he realised she might not want to swim through the escaping pool water.

They were the ones to move though the water. When they opened the door, they swam up the first few steps and stepped out the water into the car park.

While the Duchess of Kent may have been less than impressed, Gavin was thrilled to feel a cool breeze on his soaked skin. Beside him, Tim let out a sigh of relief.

"See? We survived." Whispered Gavin.

"Just." But Tim was grinning at him all the same. They all lined neatly up as Brittas told the Duchess that she ought to pick up the sweet wrapper by her feet. After all, the public looked to people higher up for examples on how to act, and she ought to show that littering was an unacceptable action.

Tim was supressing giggles, as were a number of the others. Gavin had a feeling they were more relieved to be out than actually amused.

"Gavin?" Tim whispered as Brittas continued to lecture the royal. "Can we skip going out tonight?"

"I think a quiet evening in is the best idea I've heard all day."


	2. Chapter 2

_Smuttier version in on AO3 under the same username. The story is called In the Beginning._

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><p>Next door's bloody dog was barking again. Tim pulled his pillow closer as he tried not to make any noise. He had no idea how Gavin could sleep through the racket; he had half a mind to go and complain their neighbours about it. Surely he wasn't the only one losing sleep because of the thing. They left it in the garden every night… He wasn't sure if that was normal practice with a dog, but it was obvious even to him that this one did not appreciate its living arrangements.<p>

He pressed his face into his pillow and curled up into a tight ball. If that dog didn't stop soon, he'd go around and let them know what he thought… Well, it was possible he'd cry first. He had not slept well the past week. It was probably a combination of both the dog and Brittas, but he was desperate for a good night's sleep.

Tim growled and sat up. It was 5am. He may as well go for a jog or something, he couldn't sleep through that.

"Where… going?" Gavin slurred into his pillow.

"I can't sleep through that dog's barking. I'm getting up." He replied shortly.

Gavin didn't answer, he simply reached out one arm and pulled Tim back down. Tim went, figuring he'd wait till his lover dozed back off.

Gavin didn't doze off though. With the younger man on the mattress beside him, Gavin rolled on top and began pressing sloppy kisses over his face, eyes still shut but a content look on his face. Tim took a moment to respond, his mind still focussing on the animal next door.

He did respond though, unable to totally ignore his love. He shifted and spread his legs to allow Gavin to lie between them, running his hands up and down the strong back. He was thankful that even in the middle of September as they were, it was warm enough that the men were only sleeping in a pair of shorts each; it meant that Tim could enjoy the smooth flesh of Gavin's back.

Slowly, his blood shifted downwards causing his hips to rock. Gavin let out a gentle chuckle and rubbed their cheeks together.

"Love you." He murmured, his breath hot as it hit Tim's ear. Tim moaned in response and gripped his fingers into Gavin's back as he mouthed at what skin he could reach. Gavin rocked his own hips forwards as he pressed a kiss to Tim's lips.

The older man decided to tire Tim out. It was the nicest thing to do, really.

Afterwards, Tim laid his head over Gavin's heart and let the steady beat pull him under.

Gavin's eyes flickered shut as he rested one hand on Tim's head. It wasn't the most comfortable position really, but he could manage it for a few hours.

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><p>"Good morning, Carole." Gavin greeted the woman as he and Tim entered the centre later that morning.<p>

"Oh, good morning." She seemed oddly flustered, and Tim picked up on the reason straight away.

"I thought you weren't supposed to be bringing the baby in."

"Yes well… My mother… She's in the hospital so I had to do something with him."

"Don't let Mr Brittas catch you." Gavin grinned at her as they headed into the restroom.

Carole's face cracked, tears welling up in her eyes, but neither of them turned back. Carole spent most of her time crying and they really didn't have time to see what the problem was; they were late in already because they had slept through the alarm.

"Right. I'm off to the gymnasium. I have the over 50s gymnastics group." Tim said after he had dropped his bag and his jumper into the locker. The young man pulled a face, and his lover tried not to grin. It had only been running for the two weeks they had been open, but there were a couple of women only in that class to see Tim and his lovely legs.

Gavin stepped forward and pressed a kiss to those soft lips. He ran his hands over the pert bottom that the tiny shorts covered and squeezed.

"I'll see you later on then."

Tim hurried out, but Gavin set off a little slower. He had a group of school children in for a badminton class, but they wouldn't turn up for at least another hour. He decided he had time to pop to the loo before finding all the equipment. The longest bit was filling out the forms to use the gear anyway.

He wondered who the guest lecturer coming in later that day would be talking to them about. They had only been here a few weeks and already Brittas had decided that they needed to have someone in to talk to them. It didn't really bode well.

He was filling out forms for the shuttlecocks when Brittas called, he wanted to know about the lost property. Gavin looked at the time, there was still time. He popped around to look in the cupboard, but the box for lost property taken yesterday from _just _the main changing rooms wasn't there.

Then Mr Brittas wanted Caroline's home number… because that was something he knew off the top of his head. He glanced at the forms for lost property, glancing down to the staff member's information that they had to enter every time they filled out a form and relayed the number to his boss.

Realising he didn't have enough forms to take everything he needed, Gavin headed off to reception to see if Carole had anymore. Their paper intake had to be high, he mused. They were always filling out forms.

Laura stopped him on the way past and asked him to tell Carole she had put the baby in the ladies' changing room. Gavin agreed, deciding it probably wasn't worth asking why she had put the baby there. He was fairly certain the woman had had it in a drawer earlier on.

Mr Brittas was at reception. That could well by why the baby had been moved, Brittas had threatened to confiscate him last time he had found the child in there. Mr Brittas didn't tell him where Carole was, instead sending him down to the gym, where Tim was, to collect the lost property box.

The man was still looking for that?

It was best not to ask. He headed back off down the corridor. He needed to remember to tell someone about the baby… Ben, was it?

In the gym, Tim was standing watching the women with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. He must have just gotten off the phone with Brittas.

"Do apologise to Brittas for me. It's in the proper place now." Tim's lip curled as his voice took on a note of mocking.

"Don't have a go at me, Timmy." He reminded his boyfriend. The man had a tendency to lash out at whoever was there when he felt wronged.

"I'm sorry." Mumbled Tim, hanging his head.

"Don't worry. I'd better go before Mr Brittas gets anymore worked up."

"It's other people who get worked up." Tim managed to grin at him. That was good. He had pushed his class to near breaking point last week after Brittas had upset him.

"I'll see you later." He grabbed the box and headed back to reception. A boy argued with Brittas over a tie and Gavin headed back to the cupboard.

A little over an hour later and Gavin was watching the school group head back out again. It was only a small group as the school decided how many kids they could handle taking out, but he found it quite enjoyable. He was rather looking forward to a sit down though.

He didn't have pool duty till this afternoon, so he could have a shower and a sit down before he headed out to keep an eye on things in the weights room.

After his shower though, Gavin found himself by a sink in the first floors toilets cleaning a baby grow with washing up liquid and dried it with the hand drier.

It really wasn't something he had expected to be doing while working in the leisure centre.

Carole cleaned up wonderfully. He gave her the baby, all clean and settled. Carole smiled beautifully and he joked about drying the baby in the solarium.

He headed back down and off to the weights room.

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><p>The day finished with numerous people claiming to be sick and skipping the lecture. It turned out they didn't have much of a lecture as Brittas made the man flip out. Gavin couldn't help shifting himself in front of Tim when the man was angrily throwing things around.<p>

Apparently, the guest lecturer couldn't cope with Brittas. They had to help out when he tried to kill their boss.

It was a relief to go home. They didn't even bother cooking, just grabbed some food from the Chinese Takeaway that was down one of the side roads, near the local primary school.

Their plans consisted of eating, sitting in front of the television and watching a VHS of something simple before heading to bed.

Gavin really hoped that this first fortnight was not setting the precedent for the rest of their time at the leisure centre. He'd have to start joining Tim in therapy.


	3. Chapter 3

Tim sighed as he stared at the clock. Any minute now, the tumble tots class would be finished; the women could pack up and go home. Tim would be left putting all the mats away by himself, but it would be quiet.

He'd never admit it out loud, but he actually rather enjoyed the classes… Well, sometimes. There was a young girl named Katie who liked to bring him pictures. He had kept two of them; the first one she had ever drawn for him, a picture of him in the sun with some cows, because she liked cows. Honestly, Tim couldn't see himself, the sun or the cows in the mesh of colours that had been scribbled over the paper, but he had kept it. The next one was a picture of Tim and Gavin. Again, it wasn't terribly recognisable, but it was clearly two people. Katie was three and a half, so she understood people had heads, eyes, ears, a nose and a mouth, with two arms, two legs and hair. Neither of them had a body, but whatever. He quite liked it.

There were a few other children in the class he liked. In the two months he had been keeping an eye on the class, he had come to a decision; children were easily the most messily things living on this Earth. They were loud, annoying and incapable of wiping their noses. However, he could cope with them for a couple of hours, two times a week. He was infinitely glad that he and Gavin couldn't have children though.

"Tim… I made this for you." One of the girls whispered… Amelia, was it? She looked him in the eye, but her shoulders were hunched up, shyly.

"Thank you." He smiled. It felt fake, so he took a deep breath and gave her another one. She smiled back before running off. It was a picture…. Maybe. It was a bunch of squiggles in bright crayons. He folded it up and put it in his pocket.

He wondered if Gavin was finished in the pool yet. There was an underwater wedding going on in there this morning. Tim had no idea why anyone would want to get married here, the stress levels would not decrease around Brittas.

"Fifteen minutes." He shouted, when the large hand finally touched the nine.

He stood up and began to put the softballs back into the net bag; none of the children were playing with them anyway. A few of the mothers grinned at him.

"Looking forward to a quiet room?" one of them asked.

"Yes." He replied with a smile. There was no point denying it.

"Is your Gavin going to be there?" Katie's mother asked. There was a group of women who had figured him out very quickly. Unfortunately, they seemed to have accepted him as one of the girls… It would be fine if only they could stop teasing him.

"There is a wedding going on in the pool. I won't see him until that is over, and I'm not sure how long it will take."

"Ohhh, that sounds so romantic." Sighed a young mother. Tim gave her a smile and started to put stray bean bags away.

"I got married on the beach, up north. It really wasn't as nice as I had planned." The women continued their conversation without him. They never talked about anything interesting. He would have liked to discuss yesterday's Formula One race, Ayrton Senna had won the shortest race ever; just seventeen laps. Tim had loved it. Gavin had watched it with him, but he wasn't really interested in it.

"Oh, Chrissy… Did it rain?"

"No… It was just windy. My nephews just wanted to be in the water and everyone else wanted to be inside. Got some lovely photos though."

Tim tried to imagine what kind of wedding he might have liked. Nothing fancy, he didn't think. Gavin wasn't terribly fussed about anything like that. He'd rather be cooking the food anyway. He was good at cooking and it was relaxing.

"Five minutes." He called out, still picking bits of equipment up. It was surprising how much mess kids under five could make. They managed it every time though.

Mothers started to round their children up. Mr Brittas liked people out of the door on the dot and he would happily explain the reasons why to anyone who would complain. No one did… anymore.

One of the group leaders began to clear away the stuff she had brought with them, so Tim began to drag the empty mats over to the cupboard.

"Bye, Timmy. See you on Friday." Called out one of the children.

"Bye." He called as he dragged another mat over. Gavin usually gave a hand with this… He mustn't be finished yet.

"Bye!" called out a young boy as he felt holding onto his mother. A number of other children called out as well.

It took longer than usual to clear the mats away on his own. The two group leaders would have helped, but they had to be out the hall with the mothers when the clock struck ten o'clock.

Once he got back to the staffroom, Tim chucked the picture into his locker and dropped down into a chair. He had half an hour before he was scheduled to be anywhere.

It was wonderfully quiet…

"Tim?" The door creaked open and Gavin peaked his head in.

"Are you alright?" Tim stood up and hurried over to his boyfriend, pulling the man inside.

"There's a problem. Would you mind giving a hand?" Gavin was soaked through, wearing a pair of flippers, his shorts and nothing else.

"Sure." Tim grinned, pulling Gavin close when he turned to leave. "You gonna tell me what's the problem?"

"Oh right." Tim ran his hands up Gavin's arms. He liked those arms. They were strong, comforting… Gavin was still speaking though. "The best man's dropped the ring."

"Tell him to pick it up then." Tim leaned in and pressed a light kiss to Gavin's neck.

"Umm… He can't."

"What?" Tim pulled his face back, but he slid his arms around Gavin's shoulders.

"He dropped it down a grate." Gavin rested his hands on Tim's hips and looked pleadingly at the younger man.

"Oh fine. Let's go." Tim huffed, but he kissed Gavin softly before heading out the door. "Wait. We need to stop at the equipment locker first."

There was some acrylic paper and grease pencils on little boards in there for when the scuba diving groups were in. Mr Brittas liked to be prepared for every possibility, but Tim hadn't ever expected to need to communicate with someone who was underwater.

Most of the guests had cleared out by the time they got to the swimming pool. Tim kicked off his shoes and tugged his polo shirt over his head before joining Gavin in the water.

"Has someone gone to get Brittas?" He asked, watching Gavin pull of a snorkel.

"Yeah. Colin went."

Tim nodded and took a deep breath before going down to have a look.

The man's finger was stuck in there. Tim had no idea how he had gotten it so far through the grate, but he had managed it. He prodded gently at the puffy skin. It must have absorbed some of the water and gotten bigger.

"I don't know." Tim sighed as he looked at Gavin. "Here, give him this."

Tim passed Gavin the pencil and paper he had left by the side. The man pulled his goggled and snorkel over his face again and headed back down as Brittas strode into view.

"Okay. How did it happen?" Brittas asked as he went to stand by Colin, the minister and the groom.

"The service was going fine. Th-The bride and groom were just giving each other the thumbs up sign." Replied the minister with wide eyes.

"And Rick, that's the best man…" Colin pointed at the poor sod stuck in the water with Gavin. "Dropped the ring."

Tim stared down at Gavin. Rick was trying to write something on the paper. The man kept touching Gavin… It was fortunate Tim knew how difficult it was to avoid that when you were stuck underwater right next to someone.

Gavin surfaced again, paddling over to Brittas. Tim stayed where it was.

"Well, Gavin." Brittas crouched down by the side of the pool. "How's it going?"

"He's not happy, Mr Brittas. He gave me this message."

Tim swam over to them, keeping back a little to take in the view of his lover.

"I… am… running… Writing's not up to much, is it?" Brittas squinted at the letters as Colin explained it was Rick's right hand stuck in the grate. "Yes, I am aware of that, Colin. I am running… Can you see where he's running?"

Brittas held the message out for the minister to read.

"No…" the man shook his head.

"I think it's out of air, Mr Brittas." Gavin spoke up.

"Air? How did you make air from that?" Brittas crouched down again to show Gavin the words.

"Well, it's not so much the writing, more the colour of his face. It's sort of…. purple-ish." Gavin explained.

"Vicar, can we borrow your tank?" Brittas asked.

The minister passed it down to Tim. It was surprisingly heavier than he had thought, but Tim took it and paddled back out the where Rick was. He took a deep breath and went under again.

Tim set the tank down on the floor and put the mouth piece in for the man. As Rick's colour returned to a better shade, Tim worked on detaching the empty tank. It probably would have gone quicker if he hadn't had to go up for air. He got distracted by Gavin handing over the paper again and trying to soap up the finger. He kept dropping the soap.

Gavin headed back up soon, defeated by the soap as Tim began to fasten the new tank to Rick.

Once it was in place, Tim headed back up. Typical… everyone had cleared out. He glanced back down at the unlucky guy who had gotten stuck, before swimming to the side and pulling himself out.

The man could breathe, there was no point hanging around in the water. He sat on the edge and waited to see if anyone was coming back.

Gavin returned, clutching a screwdriver.

"He says we have to remove the grate."

"Won't that cause problems later on?"

"Doesn't matter now. He's shut the pool." Gavin sat down next to him, leaning over to press a quick kiss to the corner of Tim's mouth. They slid back into the pool and Gavin headed down to unscrew the grate.

It was barely ten seconds before Gavin was back up.

"Wrong screwdriver."

"You what?"

"I think we need a Philips Screwdriver, not this…"

"Wonderful."

"In, out, in, out." Gavin grinned weakly at him. "No idea where we'll find a Philips though.

"Try Colin? Come on." They got out yet again. "I'm not hanging around here. I'm cold."

"I've left a spare towel in the changing rooms for you. See you in a bit." Gavin headed out through the doors that lead to reception as Tim went to the changing rooms to grab the towel.

He wandered through to the staff room, towel wrapped around his shoulders. It was cold. You could tell it was early November. He headed over to his locker. It was Guy Fawkes Night tomorrow. He and Gavin were going to a bonfire in the field at the back of Bill's house. Bill and Jack always threw a good party.

Dried off, Tim got dressed and headed up to check on the squash courts, where he was meant to be right now.

He groaned when he got up the stairs. Of course it wasn't quiet; there was a man in an invalid cart chucking beer cans into the courts.

"Excuse me, sir." Tim fixed a smile onto his face as he headed over. "Will you please not do that?"

"Piss off!"

"Sir?" He hated having to be polite sometimes.

"I told you. Piss off!"

Tim scowled. Fuck that. He turned and jogged down the stairs. Brittas was there, as unhelpful as ever. Tim gave Carole a wry grin as the doors opened.

It was Gavin, still dressed in wet shorts, flippers and a snorkel.

"What are you outside like that for?" asked Tim, hurrying over.

"Mr Brittas told me to go buy a screwdriver, but I think I should get dressed first."

"Too right, you should!" Tim pulled his idiotic boyfriend into the staff restroom. "You'll catch your death!"

Gavin gave him a smile, but didn't say anything as Tim rigorously dried him off. While he would usually do this slower, take time to enjoy his lover's bare skin, Tim wanted to get the man dressed again. As if he had gone outside dressed like that… What an idiot.

"Better?" He asked after a while. Gavin nodded. "Come on."

Tim took his boyfriend's hand and led him to the shower area.

"Strip." He would have insisted the man shower to warm up, but he'd be okay for now and Tim wanted some help with the drunken man in the wheelchair.

Gavin removed everything and then leaned over to kiss him.

"I'm not that cold. Stop worrying."

Tim glared at him for a moment, but he couldn't keep it up. He pulled Gavin close, running his hands up and down the chilled skin. Gavin kissed him again, this time deeper. Tim shut his eyes an opened his mouth.

"Sorry. We'd best not." Gavin pulled back, his expression apologetic. Tim grinned at the evidence of his lover's rising interest, but he gamely went and collected some dry clothes for Gavin to wear.

"Hey, Gavin?" a thought suddenly occurred to Tim. "Don't we have a screwdriver in the car?"

"You know, we might." Gavin accepted the clothes and began to pull them on. "I'll go check."

They walked through to the staffroom again, but Gavin took a moment to press Tim against the lockers and devour his mouth. Tim moaned softly and returned the kiss enthusiastically.

"Just to keep me going." Gavin gave him an innocent look, before walking out. Tim groaned and adjusted himself before following.

They went in different directions when they got out, Colin rounding Tim up to help stack cardboard boxes up in one of the corridors. The man in the motorised wheelchair was still loose. Linda was happy to lend a hand too.

Naturally, Brittas was less than impressed with their barrier. Tim wondered what instructions Colin had actually been given with regard to the boxes, but chose not to speak up. He had a feeling that standing on the fire step and shooting the man, wasn't Brittas' plan of action.

Gavin jogged back over to them, the screwdriver in his hand. Tim smiled over at the man as he got pushed to the side by Brittas, who was busy talking to Colin about what he had done wrong. Tim rather felt sorry for Colin sometimes, he tried hard and was utterly underappreciated by Brittas.

Gavin kept trying to point out that he couldn't get to Rick, but Brittas didn't want to hear it. Tim put his hand lightly on the man's back to let him know he was there.

"Just leave it for a moment." He mouthed, taking the screwdriver off him. Rick had that tank of air, he'd be alright.

Brittas made his demands to have the barricade taken down as the man crashed through the boxes. Tim pressed into the wall, trying to keep out of that way. No one stopped the man as he continued on.

"You bastard!" swore Brittas. "You won't get away with this. You'll pay for this, every penny of damage, you hear me? Every penny!"

"Mr Brittas!" Shouted Colin as Tim stared in shock at the boxes that were strewn over the floor. They were going to have to do something… "Mr Brittas, I think I've shot Gavin!"

"Gavin!" yelped Tim as he turned. Gavin's arm was pinned to the door with the mini harpoon. "Are you alright?"

What a daft question, he thought as Colin explained he had shot the thing accidently, Gavin had something _through_ his arm! Of course he wasn't alright!

"Talk to me Gavin, say something!" he could feel his voice squeaking, as though he was still in the grip of puberty, but he didn't care. Brittas was trying to calm him down, but Gavin had passed out! There was blood and everything! Tim pressed a hand against his jaw, trying to support his head.

"Let's see if we can't pull this thing out." Said Brittas; Tim couldn't stop the little scream that slipped out. Thankfully, Linda stopped the man. If they took it out, he might bleed even worse!

"It's got barbs."

"Is that blood? He's hurt!" His voice was squeaking again.

"I don't think so." Linda stared at Gavin's arm. "He's more sort of… pinned…"

"_Gavin_!"

Tim tried to move his head to see if he would wake up. It didn't help. His eyes were blurry and his chest felt tight. He could hear Brittas trying to sort out the man in the invalid cart instead of helping Gavin. That was unacceptable. They couldn't wait here until Carole called the paramedics, who knew if they would actually show up! They emergency services were getting a little hesitant to come out here anymore.

"He's unconscious, Mr Brittas. He could be bleeding to death!" He cried before stalking over, holding the screwdriver under the man's chin. "We can't just wait for an ambulance!"

"All right, all right, all right…" Brittas pushed the screwdriver out the way. "I'll tell you what we'll do. Let's put that screwdriver to use."

He got them to carefully unscrew the hinges on the door and take it down. Tim kept an eye on Gavin's arm. It was still bleeding. He tried to focus on the task at hand. He knew he was a little hysterical at the moment, but he couldn't seem to help it.

Phil came down the corridor, stopping and staring at the scene he encountered, but Brittas made use of him. They hurried along to reception, carrying Gavin on the door. Tim stared at Gavin's chest; he knew it was still moving up and down, but it helped keep the tears at bay. He kind of wanted to scream; this was a nightmare!

In the reception area, Tim was aware of the group of women fussing about something, but he couldn't take his attention aware from his boyfriend. He glanced over a few times, but their problems were insignificant when Gavin was hurt!

He was still breathing… Colin was waiting outside for the ambulance and Gavin hadn't lost all his colour. Tim focussed on breathing himself, trying to fight back the panic that kept rising.

Colin hurried in to let them know the ambulance had arrived and they headed out. He gasped and bit back a wail when the doors tried to shut too soon again, but someone put a hand on his arm.

"We'll take it from here, son."

It was a paramedic. He was pushed to the side as they took Gavin over to the ambulance. He didn't stay away though, hurrying over to stand nearby as they began to remove the harpoon from the door.

"We'll take him to A&E and get it out there."

"I'm coming." Tim said, feeling queasy now that he had nothing to do.

"Ok then, son. You sit in here with us." They sat him in the back with Gavin, and the paramedic made him lean forwards so that his head was between his knees. "Deep breaths for me."

Tim shut his eyes and took deep breaths. It was going to be alright. It was going to be alright….

The ride took far too long, but when they got there they were taken into a small room. It had a curtain for a door. Tim stared blankly at it, wordlessly accepting the drink that the paramedic pressed into his hand.

"There you go, kid. Don't worry. I'm sure your friend will be fine."

He tried to nod, but his muscles were too tense to accept the movement.

"Come on." The paramedic didn't head back out, but helped Tim raise the plastic cup to his lips. "He'll be fine. Breathe for me. Ok?"

"Yeah." He rasped out.

It felt like ages before Gavin got taken away to theatre, but the paramedic stayed with Tim. He sort of wanted to ask why the man hadn't gone back out to do his job, but he was incredibly grateful for the company.

They sat in those uncomfortable chairs for a while, until a nurse popped his head around the curtain to say Gavin was stitched up and they were just giving him a clean. Tim slumped down in relief, letting out a gentle laugh.

"Here. I'll get you a hot tea." The kind man stood up as Tim grinned. They just need to clean Gavin up and then he'd get to see him. Thank goodness… Tim's mind drifted back to that shower Gavin hadn't taken forever ago… It had only been that morning, when he had been going to go out and buy a screwdriver.

Tim wondered if they had gotten Rick out of the pool yet. He wasn't sure what he had done with the screwdriver he'd had earlier on.

"Here." The paramedic handed him another plastic cup. The liquid inside tasted fantastic as it hit all the right spots. "I've got to head back off now, son. You take care."

"Thank you so much." Tim grinned widely up at him. The man chuckled and headed out.

As if it was only five in the evening. It felt like it had been days since he had been sat with those young children in tumble tots.

Soon, they would be able to go home and have some tea. Then, they could curl up in front of the telly and watch something easy. He hoped Gavin's arm had recovered by his birthday; he'd bought him a computer console for it. He'd gotten his lover a Megadrive console with various games, including Golden Axe, Streets of Rage and Sonic the Hedgehog. Gavin played on his Commodore 64 all the time, so Tim hoped this would go down well. It was expensive, but it was the man's twenty first.

He leaned back in his chair and sipped his tea, waiting for someone to lead him to Gavin.


	4. Chapter 4

Gavin grinned at Linda as they headed into the staffroom; the centre had been shut again. He wondered what it was that Mr Brittas had a problem with now: perhaps they had been too slow on the last training exercise, or maybe they weren't smiling often enough… It had better not be about keeping the noticeboards neat again.

Carole was sat at the front, her basket with Ben inside on her knee. Gavin gave her a gentle smile as she rocked her whole body.

"Would you like a drink?" He asked, glancing around. Phil nodded his head, as did Danny.

"I boiled the kettle just before." Danny told him. He clicked it back on to reheat as he dropped teabags into three mugs.

"D'ya know what he wants us for?" asked Molly, pushing her long brown hair over her shoulder.

"Maybe he decided we haven't been doing our cleaning duties well enough." Tim grumbled with a roll of his eyes. A few people huffed at the idea. Last week Brittas had closed the centre to ask people to make more of an effort in cleaning. They had all agreed not to tell Mrs Delgado, their cleaning lady; she was a friendly woman and everyone liked her, but she didn't see eye to eye with Mr Brittas.

As he poured the boiling water into the cups, he listened to the different ideas of what Brittas might be unhappy with now. He'd had a job in Sainsbury's before but none of his managers there had been half as picky as Brittas was.

Drinks handed out, Gavin dropped into the uncomfortable chair left beside Tim. He hoped it wasn't anything that would require an evening class or anything, he and Tim had plans for the upcoming evening.

When it turned out to be a problem of a thief, Gavin couldn't help frowning. Surely no one would steal £5 from Carole…. He also rather agreed with Laura that they didn't need to shut the centre for £5. There was a chance they could make that back in one day… possibly two.

Tim smirked at him when Brittas used his missing 'soap on a rope' as another stolen item. The young man found the idea hilarious, all thanks to Bill who had told him men in prison used it to discourage penetrative sex. He tried to deflect the attention; he had since decided someone had probably just borrowed it without asking. It wasn't as though he and Tim were so hard up for money that they couldn't afford another one.

Colin hurried back in, quickly sitting down and thankfully skipping the explanation that nobody wanted to hear. Brittas continued with his list of minor things that were not accounted for, including biscuits. He could feel Tim shifting impatiently beside him, the young man would have lost interest in this as well.

His tea was cool now. He pulled a face and considered passing the cup to Tim, who didn't mind what temperature his liquids were at as Colin brought up the idea of jackdaws… Gavin was very thankful he avoided naming Postman Pat as the programme he had been watching at the time. He had a feeling Tim would not like people to know that sometimes they couldn't be bothered to get up and change the channel.

Colin failed to make his point as he ran back out the room again.

Mr Brittas then managed to upset more people by mentioning criminal records. Danny jumped up as he said no one was supposed to know about it, but Brittas simply said he hadn't meant him. Gavin smiled wryly, he didn't care if Danny had been involved in a bigamous marriage, and the other man had never given anyone a reason not to trust him here. Brittas then upset Mandy by naming her as the one with the criminal record.

"Laura, I want you to hand these out please. I think the best thing we can do is find out where everyone was yesterday afternoon. So, if you'd like to fill it in, in the spaces provided; where you were, what you did, when you left and who you saw there and anyone who might have seen you."

Gavin tried to hide his exasperation as he looked over the form they had; it even asked for the exact minutes, for the seconds if they could recall them… It was ridiculous. Tim didn't look too happy, but they both knew they would have to fill it out.

He tried to remember exactly what they had been doing yesterday. He'd had a Slim Trim class first thing in the morning, then he had had a five minute sit down in the staff room. Afterwards, he had had to patrol blue area to make sure the equipment wasn't getting too rowdy (not that he was bitter about patrolling areas when there were no customers around), had it been lunch after that? Yes. He'd sat in the cafeteria with Tim and they had had sandwiches. Oh, he had passed Linda when he had been in the staffroom earlier.

It wasn't easy to remember… Still, he had hung around for a little bit to chat with Carole and then Laura before heading home; he and Tim still had different afternoons off most of the time.

He handed the form in, then followed Brittas' instructions to go and make a start on cleaning the gymnasium floor. Apparently it needed a polish…

He hated polishing the floor, but at least it was still dirt free after Mrs Delgado had swept and mopped the night before.

* * *

><p>"He thinks I'm a thief!" Tim stormed into the gymnasium and dropped down beside Gavin.<p>

"What?" Gavin put his brush down, pulled the gloves off his hands and put his fingers under Tim's chin. There were tears in his eyes.

"He thinks I stole that £5 off Carole!"

"It was from Ben…"

"Gavin!" wailed Tim unhappily.

"He won't have thought it was you."

"He said that the times I wrote down and the times you wrote down don't match up well enough." Gavin got up on his knees and wrapped an arm around Tim, who was hunched up miserably.

"He must think I'm a liar!" snarled Tim, his tears starting to fall.

"Shh…. He's just worried. It's okay."

"I don't know why I'm staying here." Tim pulled away, his face now red as he got more worked up. "I should just go home."

"I'd stick around until Brittas is done with his investigating…" Gavin hesitantly put in. If Tim left early, it could be seen as a guilty conscience.

"Not home, but back to my mum's. As much as we argue, at least _she_ doesn't think I'm a liar and a thief."

"What? No. Tim!" Gavin shifted his grip, pulling Tim more fully into his arms. "Just ignore him. No one else thinks anything like that!"

"I know you don't." The young man whispered, his glistening face now pressed into Gavin's collar. The older man kissed his lover's temple. They sat together, cuddled close. The polishing could wait.

"What is it he has you doing right now, anyway?"

"Cleaning all the lockers out."

"Fun. At least you aren't polishing this floor." Tim pulled back and gave him a weak grin.

"I'd better get back to it. I mean what I said though: I don't like that my boss thinks I'm untrustworthy."

With that, Tim turned and left the gym. Gavin sighed and moved onto testing the shuttlecocks and for the badminton classes. It was only another five minutes before he stuffed his racket back into its case, it would be best to just go and talk to Brittas.

He jogged back through the corridors and up the stairs to their manager's office. Angie wasn't there, so he just knocked on the door, and entered on command.

"Mr Brittas? I- I'd just like to say that Tim is one of the kindest, gentlest people I know and the idea that he'd steal £5 is…" He took a deep breath, he hadn't really thought about what he was going to say. "He wouldn't do a thing like that, not in a million years! Well, not from a baby anyway… That's all I wanted to say really."

Brittas stopped him before he could leave to assure him that he hadn't been accusing Tim. Gavin attempted to explain he must have been because Tim wanted to move back to Cheshire with his mother. He didn't say what he actually thought because he wanted to keep his job.

Brittas confidently explained that he had a plan to catch the thief; Tim had no reason to worry if he wasn't guilty. It was good to know.

He headed back down and hurried over to the changing village. Tim was on the floor, his whole posture screamed his unhappiness.

"Tim?"

"Yeah?" Tim turned around and stood up.

"I… I went to see Mr Brittas." Gavin moved closer, pushing Tim down onto one of the benches then following him.

"And?"

"He said that he has a plan to catch the thief. He said…'If Tim is innocent, then he has nothing to worry about'… or something like that." Tim let out a puff of air.

"You're sure?"

"Yeah. Now, come here." Gavin shifted back on the wood and pulled Tim against him, dragging on leg over so the young man was straddling him.

Tim's lips were soft as they met Gavin's. His arms rested heavily on his shoulders as Tim shifted so his legs were wrapped around Gavin's waist. The older man pushed his hands up the back of Tim's shirt straight away, always keen to feel the smooth skin.

His tongue breached his lover's lips and he enjoyed the tightening of the man's limbs. It wasn't often they could do this at work…

A loud coughing interrupted them, and Tim leaned back to smile at Laura.

"I thought we were all meant to be cleaning." She said, her tone amused.

"Break?" Suggested Tim cheekily.

"You have twenty minutes."

Tim nodded and leaned in to bite lightly at Gavin's neck.

* * *

><p>After lunch, Gavin played a game of badminton with Linda. Strictly speaking, they were checking all the rackets were still in good condition, but it ended up being several games.<p>

Laura caught him on the way back to the restroom. She warned him to not get changed there because Brittas was hiding in one of the lockers! He could believe it, Mr Brittas was determined to catch the thief, but that he would hide in a locker…

He was glad he knew in advance, he and Tim had a tendency to make out in the staff restroom… He wondered if they would have to find somewhere else to go…

Just outside, Angie was there with new sheets to pin to the notice board. When he told her about Brittas, she was just as disgusted. However, she came up with a brilliant idea…. It involved heading out the see Jack, but his veterinary practice was just around the corner.

Once Brittas came back from where ever he had disappeared to, he tried another tactic for finding the thief, this time involving a dye and a blue light. When Brittas turned out to be the only one with the dye on his hands, Gavin decided the police could sort it out. It would get Brittas out the way and it would cheer Tim up.

Before he got the chance to, Brittas revealed it had been Colin hiding in the locker… The locker they had pressed a chloroform covered rag against and hung up outside…

Oops…

Thankfully, Colin was very understanding when they explained their reasoning as they all waited for the paramedics to arrive. He assured them it wasn't a problem and that he really didn't mind.

It only marginally helped with the guilt, but when Brittas apologised to Tim quietly, Gavin decided he was ok with it really. After all, he would do anything for Timmy.

As Gavin and Tim headed home, the younger man apologised for possibly over reacting. Gavin just grinned and said he was simply glad that Tim wouldn't be going anywhere.


	5. Chapter 5

"Have you heard about Angie?" Tim called out as Gavin walked through reception. It was December and the centre was open, but it was even emptier than usual due to the cold, wintery air. There had been no snow so far this year, but Brittas blamed the previous year's severe snowfalls as the reason for the lapse.

"What?" He responded, coming over to stand by the man.

"She's leaving!" Carole stated, her wild eyes focussing on him.

"Really?"

"Yeah." Tim turned fully to look at him. "Brittas is interviewing new people."

"I know we've only been here a few months but Whitbury know about Brittas now. Who is going to want to work here?" Gavin wondered, after the number of people who had left here, word had gotten around.

"He's only had one person in so far."

"Really? Who?" Tim leaned on the counter, curiosity lighting his face.

"A woman from up north."

"No chance she's heard of him then?" Tim grinned.

"Give it another year or so. I think we'll be heard of nationally." Gavin joked, smirking.

The phone rang, and as Carole answered it with her cheerful introduction, the two men headed off to the swimming pool.

"It'll be weird without Angie." Mused Tim softly.

"I know. I've got used to others coming and going, but I thought she would stay." He leaned down and pecked Tim's lips gently before they went into the changing rooms.

"We need somewhere new to go." Tim looked sorrowfully over at him. "I miss making out in the staffroom."

* * *

><p>As there was no one else desperate enough for a job, Julie was brought back in to be introduced to the team as Angie's replacement. She was nice enough to them, but she didn't seem overly impressed with Brittas.<p>

"Again!" exclaimed Julie as she walked in on Tim and Gavin. They were in the equipment cupboard, all over each other again.

"Hey, Julie." Tim said, moving away and trying to look innocent.

"Didn't think Brittas would let you do that all over the centre. It's not work." She raised her eyebrows at them, an amused grin splitting over her face.

"We don't do it in the staffroom anymore."

"Oh, yeah. Angie told me about that. Why not go somewhere else then?"

"Like where?" asked Gavin softly.

"Why not try the steam room. When Brittas was showing me round, it was one of the few doors he didn't go in."

"And a Polaroid wouldn't do much good in there." Murmured Tim, frowning slightly as he considered it.

"Thanks. Where is Brittas?" Gavin wondered.

"He was showing me around again, but Angie called him off to sort something out."

"Ah." He smiled at her and left.

"Want to give the steam room a try?" Asked Tim, smiling suggestively at him.

"Umm… Maybe we should go do some work first. I don't know why we'd be in the steam room."

"Maybe you're taking a smoke break?" Tim glanced hopefully over at him.

"Maybe later." Gavin argued gently. He turned and hurried off to the gymnasium. He wasn't sure Brittas would believe Tim was just keeping him company while he smoked. Tim was very against the idea. Still…. At least it would give him an excuse to carry cigarettes.

"Gavin?" Julie called out. He turned to see her hurrying over to him. "Just to let you know that I'm having a New Year's Eve do at mine. Here's the address." She held out a piece of paper.

"Thanks." He said softly, wondering how to reject her. He and Tim already had plans

"I thought I'd invite everyone here. I've only just moved into the area so I don't really know anyone." She smiled at him. "I'm gonna be working here soon anyway, so I might as well get to know you lot."

She turned, leaving Gavin stood with a scrap of paper in his hand.

"Oh, and it's fancy dress." She called back, grinning at him. "Tim liked the idea but he said to give you the address."

Gavin watched as she left and sighed. Apparently they had new plans.

* * *

><p>"When is it Julie starts?" asked Tim. It was the fourth of February and they hadn't seen much of the woman since her party.<p>

"No idea. Sometime this month I suppose. Angie said she was starting her new job next month."

The two men were languidly resting in bed. It was all ready 9am, but they had the day off. Next door, they could hear a mother shouting at her children as she tried to get them out to school.

"It's starting now and you aren't even out the door! It's only Tuesday. How have you made such a mess of your uniform already? That tie goes around your neck, not your wrist. Get it on."

"I am so glad we don't have kids. She sounds more stressed every time I hear her." Murmured Gavin as he sighed and shifted.

"I was just thinking I'm glad I'm not in school anymore. My mum was just like that."

"I went to boarding school. It was very different. Besides, your mum is wonderful."

"She is now. When my step-dad was still around she was very different."

"My parents haven't changed in all the time I've known them. Probably not since the Victorian Era."

"Is this about why I can't visit them with you again? I told you, I don't mind. Besides, you could just say I'm a friend."

"We have a whole day off together Timmy, I want to do something other than talking about our parents."

"I'm game for that." Tim replied, rolling over on top of Gavin.

As they began to kiss though, there was a knock on the door.

"Is it anything important you think?" asked Gavin, his eyes still shut as Tim peppered kisses across his face.

"Don't know, don't care."

"What if it's the postman?"

"Don't care."

"I'll just check." Gavin slid out from under Tim and pulled his dressing gown on. Tim huffed and rolled onto his back. He slid a hand down to pet at the skin on his stomach, then lower… He could hear Gavin's soft voice at the door, chatting to the postman. Soon, he would be back in their bedroom. He would cover Tim's body with his own and take command.

Tim's eyes slid shut and he spread his legs. Any minute now, Gavin would be back.

The phone rang. Tim's eyes shot open and he glared at the offending machine, but it didn't silence; its rings continued to pierce the air.

"Hello?"

"Ah, Timothy."

"Hello, Mr Brittas." He sighed.

"I was wondering where you put the rule book for the gymnasium. Linda said you had it last." It was possible Tim had put that into the pile of things to burn that Angie was making for when she left.

"I'm not sure Mr Brittas. If Laura doesn't know where it is, then perhaps Angie might."

"Riiight. It's just a woman wanting proof about the black soled shoes and a couple of other things."

"Good bye, Mr Brittas." Replied Tim quickly, before hanging up.

Gavin still wasn't back, but talking to Brittas had killed his libido for the moment. Instead, Tim got up to go make breakfast

"Who was that?" asked Gavin, leaning against the door frame as he watched his young lover putter about the kitchen.

"Brittas."

"Ah. No longer in the mood?"

"No. Do you want eggs, toast or pancakes?"

"No cereal?"

"We ran out."

"I'd rather have you for breakfast."

Gavin's large, warm hands settled either side of Tim's face and pulled his head forwards for a sweet kiss.

"I suppose I can facilitate this." Tim grinned, taking his lover's hand and leading him to the bedroom.

* * *

><p>"Hey, boys." Carole smiled tearfully up at them after lunch. They'd managed to sit together for once in the canteen.<p>

"Hey Carole." They both replied.

"How was your day off?" It was times like this that she reminded Gavin of his mother.

"Oh, it was lovely." Tim replied, his voice warm. "We went to the pictures to see Double Impact and then went bowling."

"Oh, how nice. I can't remember the last time I went bowling." Gavin headed through to the staffroom as Tim continued to chat to Carole.

He hurried through and put his badminton racket into their locker. He was pulling on his cap as Tim came through.

"She's pregnant again."

"What?"

"Carole. She had been on the phone to the doctor this morning and he said she is pregnant again."

"Wow."

"And that's not the only news today."

"What else happened?" Gavin asked. Tim came to stand as close to Gavin as he dared when they didn't trust their boss completely.

"Mrs Brittas has been in an accident."

"Really? Is she ok?"

"Carole says that Laura told her that the brakes had been cut in the car."

"Someone trying to do one of them in?"

"Probably." Laughed Tim, chucking his jacket into the locker. "But who knows which one. Look at all the excitement we missed with our backs turned."

"I enjoy avoiding Brittas. It's relaxing." Gavin joked.

"Hey Debbie." Tim smiled at the woman as she came in, her front wet. "Been by the pool?"

"You'd think so, but no. I passed Brittas in the canteen and while he was explaining some new poster to me, he knocked me and spilt my drink. Entirely my fault, of course."

"Ah." Tim wrinkled his nose as Gavin made a sympathetic noise. Tim went over to look at the board as Gavin headed out to see Carole. He watched Colin head in the other door and could see Brittas over by the main doors, sticking up a new poster. He hurried back into the staffroom.

He watched Tim storm off into the toilet area. He has a feeling it was probably Colin who had set him off. He went over to look at the star chart. Brittas had had the idea that he would award stars for all the good people did. In theory, a nice idea, but the prize was a meal out with Brittas and no one wanted that, the whole thing only counted for the full-time staff anyway. He hoped the part-timers had their own draw filled with misery. Still, if Tim had stormed off, maybe someone had given him a few extra stars.

However, when he got there he found it was not Tim with extra points.

"Hey! Colin, someone's been messing around with my stars!"

"What?"

"Look! I only had 6 this morning and now look."

"No, no, no. I can explain that. You got those for rescuing that little girl who swam out of her depth."

"No, no, I only got one for that, I remember. Brittas said!" He crossed his arms. He wasn't going to settle for this!

"Ah, yes." Colin replied. "But it was a green one. They're worth two yellows and the yellows are five each, that's 10 red."

"Well, I'm sorry; I'm not having it."

Colin let out a loud sneeze, making Gavin jump, but he kept his arms crossed.

"Look, Gavin. Does it really matter?"

"Matter?" Gavin exclaimed. "Whoever wins this _thing_ has to go out to dinner with Brittas at the Burley Inn. Of course it matters."

"I know how you feel." Colin answered, simply.

"Well, it's not fair. Some of the others haven't got any stars at all…" He glanced down at the chart. "Look at them. Tony. Tony had two stars yesterday, I know he did. He's peeled them off." At least, he had according to Phil who had insisted on updating Gavin on how everyone was doing.

"No. He lost those for being late."

"Oh, he always weasels out of it somehow, doesn't he? Well, he's not getting away with it this time. He can have a couple of mine for starters."

"Gavin! Gavin, if Mr Brittas catches you…"

It was typical of his luck that as he peeled off two stars and stuck them by Tony's name that Brittas walked in.

"If I could have your attention please, everyone... Colin?" Brittas called. Gavin raised his eyes, but let out a sigh of relief as Brittas continued with his announcement. He'd gotten away with it. "Now, some of you may have seen these eye catching notices I've been displaying around the centre."

Gavin turned away, exchanging a glance with Phil, who mouth '_Why?'_ at him. Gavin gave him a slight smile. The other day, they had been wondering why Mr Brittas insisted on giving announcements when all his staff weren't there.

Brittas was telling people to go out and deliver these posters to people. Tim took his lot into the toilets. Hopefully just to bin them rather than trying to flush them… there were too many to do that easily.

He listened to Mr Brittas talk, and as usual he wondered if the manager had any idea how people actually worked. As everyone was dismissed, Brittas called him over.

"What were you doing just now when I came in?"

"What?"

"You were doing something at the noticeboard."

"Oh." Gavin's hopes of removing enough of his stars died. "Nothing, Mr Brittas."

"I think you were, Gavin."

"I wasn't. I wasn't doing anything! Honest!"

"It's alright." Brittas replied in what was clearly meant to be a reassuring tone. "I know."

"I didn't touch it!"

"You were at this noticeboard and thought to yourself 'Ooh, look at Tony. He's got no stars' and between you and me has little chance of ever getting any and you thought 'there's me, Gavin, storming into the lead of this month's competition' _again_, so you decided to boost his morale with a couple of your own stars, didn't you?"

"Mr Brittas-" Gavin interjected, "I-"

"That is exactly the sort of caring generosity that I'm trying to encourage, Gavin. I'll tell you what we'll do, we'll let Tony keep those two stars, but at no cost to yourself." The smile that had started to spread across Gavin's face froze.

"What?"

"In fact, I'm gonna give you two more. Just to show that selflessness doesn't always go unrewarded."

"Ohh…" He groaned, dropping into a chair and putting his head into his hands. Brittas gave him a clap, but he couldn't even pretend to smile. Dinner at the Burley Inn with Mr Brittas. Tim was going to laugh himself sick… again…

He waited till his boss left the staffroom, then hurried past Colin and Phil up to the roof. He had a bit of free time now, he could sit in the fresh air and pretend it was all a dream. He stood leaning against the cold metal of the fire escape for twenty minutes, looking out over the area their centre sat in, out to the mostly empty car park.

Maybe it would help to focus on the good things… thing… He could only think of one: he wouldn't have to pay for a nice meal. Maybe he should ask Brittas if he could bring a friend… It would be bearable if Tim was at his side.

He was a reasonable man… Maybe Gavin could tell him it would encourage others to do better if they saw they could bring someone else too.

A hand landed on his back, making him jump. Gavin straightened up and turned around.

"Larry? What are you doing here?"

"Gavin. There's something I want you to do for me."

"Oh yes?"

"I want you to tell Mr Brittas 'there's somebody up on the roof, contemplating suicide'."

"There's someone on the roof?" Gavin immediately tried to remember where Laura was right now. She'd be able to help… She'd be a million times more helpful than Mr Brittas.

"Mmm… Not yet, but there soon will be."

"Well, for God's sake, don't tell Brittas. He'll want to help."

"I know."

"And he'll try and talk them down. Five minutes of that, they would be contemplating suicide, they will have jumped…. Who is it, anyway?"

Larry pointed a finger to his own chest. "It's me."

"You? You're gonna jump? Larry… Why?" And why would he ask for Brittas? Did he need the manager there to make sure he followed through?

"The choir at St Mary's took 20 years to grow up, you know."

"What?"

"We used to travel round the country, win prizes. Then, Brittas came along; calling everyone by the Christian name, helping them, giving them all encouragement… We only had three people at choir practice last night. It's then I decided: He has to die."

"You what?" He ought to be used to such… strangeness accumulating around Brittas by now, but it still took him by surprise sometimes.

"It seems the only sensible thing."

"You're going to kill Brittas?"

"Mm-hmm. Not for myself, you understand, but for the sake of the parish."

"Look, Larry…" Gavin stumbled, trying to find the right words. "I don't know what to say… W-well, we all feel a bit like that sometimes…. But, don't you think you need a little help?"

"That's why I came to you!" replied Larry, a bright smile flitting briefly across his face.

"That's not quite what I meant."

"Look, look, Gavin! Just get him up on the roof…. And I'll do the rest."

"Larry! Oh, God!"

He watched as the man left, then ran back inside and went full pelt down he corridors. He needed to sit in quiet for a moment and think… away from where that conversation had taken place.

Tim was sat on one of the benches in the staffroom, tying his shoelaces. Just the person Gavin wanted to see. He would have pulled him into a hug if they hadn't put the staffroom off limits for touching now.

"Tim! I've just seen Larry Whitaker! He- he said he's gonna kill Brittas."

"I always liked Larry." Tim grinned cheekily up at him, but it didn't help his stress levels. Tim hadn't seen how serious Larry was.

"Oh Tim!"

"Does he need any help?" Tim asked brightly.

"I'm being serious! He-h-he asked me to lure Brittas up onto the roof so that he can murder him!"

"How?" Tim's voice was still too light.

"Well, I don't know. I suppose he's going to throw him off or something."

"Well, have you warned him?"

"Who?"

"Brittas!"

"No. Not yet. Do you think I should?" Maybe it was best to just… let it happen…

"Well, you have to, don't you?"

"Yes… Yes, of course."

"I'll go with you." Tim stated, heading over to the door. "Well, come on!"

"Yes… yes, I'm sure you're right."

They headed out the staffroom, past Carole who was weeping again while she sorted out some food for Ben and up the stairs. They hurried along the corridor that overlooked the gymnasium and over to Angie's office.

When they were admitted, Tim tried to raise the point straight away, but their manager sent him away, using what he explained was essentially a lie.

"I just want a discreet word about Tim." Brittas explained. "Take a seat, Gavin."

"Oh. What about Tim?"

"Now, you're a good friend of Tim, you work well together."

"Yes." Gavin was getting anxious. Was Tim in trouble? "Well, I'm just getting slightly concerned that he might be somewhat…" he wiggled a hand. "You know…"

"Somewhat what?" Gavin had no idea what the man was trying to say. Was Tim in trouble for the way he was acting? Did Brittas have a problem of his sense of humour or something?

"I'm just getting a little bit worried lately that he might be a bit of a left-footer."

Gavin took a moment to think about that. There were two meanings to the slang 'left-footer' and Gavin had a feeling Brittas wasn't on about Tim's religion.

"You think he's a homosexual!"

"Good Heavens, I wouldn't put it as strongly as that."

"Then what do you mean?"

"I'm a broad minded sort of bloke, Gavin. I think you know that." Gavin sat back in his chair, eyes wide. He couldn't believe his ears… "But, Joe Public can get very, very anxious about that sort of thing. All I want you to do is just… keep an eye out, if you get my drift."

"No. I'm afraid I don't." Why should anyone care that Tim was gay? It was clear Brittas didn't have the whole story though, if he thought Gavin would side with him over Tim.

"Just keep an eye out, particularly in the changing rooms and showers… and tell me if… well, if anything."

"Wha…?"

"All in complete confidence, of course. We don't want Tiny Tim to know about this, do we? But, on the other hand, we don't want some member of the public to-"

Thankfully, that was the moment Tim came back in, stopping the strange conversation in its tracks. Before they could even get back onto the topic they had come in to discuss originally, Angie came hurrying in, delivering Larry's message.

"You'd better get Laura to close off the area and also get Colin to lay out some gym mats, just in case." Brittas marched across the office to get his coat. "I'll see if I can't talk him down."

"Aren't you gonna call the police?"

"Don't worry, Angie, I'm a trained Samaritan." He nodded confidently at her and she left. "I presume whatever it was can wait, lads?"

"Well, it was about-" Began Tim, but Gavin forcefully interrupted.

"Yes! That's fine!" his anger was starting to catch up to him.

"What?" asked Tim, softly.

"Are you sure?" Brittas checked.

"It can wait, Mr Brittas!" snapped Gavin. He managed a smile for the man, but it was forced.

As the manager left, Tim turned to look at him.

"Are you ok?"

"Yes!" he snapped, making Tim taking a step back, concern etched into his face. Gavin took a deep breath and softened his tone. "Sorry. But, I'm fine. Come here."

Gavin pulled Tim close, pressing his face into the young man's neck and hanging on for a long moment. He wouldn't hear Brittas say a word against the man he loved. Not one word! Tim's arms were looped around his back, but the teenager didn't say a word, just waited patiently for Gavin to calm down.

"Sorry." He apologised again, stepping back. "It's just, you know, Brittas!"

"I know." Tim replied simply, before pulling Gavin's face towards his own and pressing a soft kiss to his lips. "I need to go to the pool now. Linda will be wanting to get on her break."

"Right… All right, I'll see you later." He gave Tim another kiss and they headed off.

In the staffroom, Gavin found Laura sat sipping a cup of tea. He dropped heavily into the seat beside her.

"You alright, Gavin?"

"Brittas." He said, by way of explanation.

"Ah. What has he said this time?"

"He accused Tim of being a 'left-footer'."

"What?" He liked talking to Laura. She always sounded like she cared. "What did he say?"

"That it would be a bother to Joe Public."

"Ha." She snorted. "The women in his Tumble Tots class have no objections."

"Yes. And he told me to keep an eye on Tim in the showers and the changing room."

"You do that anyway, don't you?"

"What?"

"Are you telling me that when Tim gets dressed next to you in the changing rooms, you don't so much as glance over at him?" She grinned over at him, quirking her brow cheekily.

"I… You're right." His bad mood lifted. He did have a tendency to look at Tim.

"You don't watch him in just the showers and changing rooms you know?" She teased, "I can tell if Tim is in a room because your eyes tend to be stuck in one area."

He laughed and leaned back.

"I can't help it. He's beautiful."

"Hey guys." Called Debbie as she and David walked in.

"Your class all gone?" inquired Laura.

"Yeah." She replied, giving a tired smile.

"Did you get the note from Angie about her leaving do?"

"I am." She confirmed.

"I'll be there." Assured David.

"Excellent." Laura nodded.

"How many are going?" Gavin asked, curiously.

"Let's see… Me, you, Tim, Phil, Tony, Peter, John, Tracey, David, Debbie, Linda, Mike and Mandy… Danny can't make it, neither can Damien or Patrick… Oh, Molly is coming too…. Fourteen and including Angie is fifteen."

"You didn't invite Mr Brittas?" he asked.

"You know as well as I do he'd cancel it for some reason."

"I suppose so."

"Where is Tim?"

"On pool duty. I'm done for the day, so another hour and we can both head home."

"I'll go do his pool duty for him. You both get yourselves off. I'll see you at work tomorrow, then in the evening for the party."

"Oh, thank you, Laura."

* * *

><p>The party wasn't a big, flashy party. It took place in a local pub where they joined in quiz night and failed miserably. However, once they mentioned that they worked for Brittas but had deliberately not brought him along, the evening improved as they started getting a free round or two.<p>

"It's going to be weird." Mumbled Tim, sleepily. "It's only going to be Laura trying to keep us all sane now."

"I hope she doesn't crack under the pressure." Replied Gavin, quietly, one arm wrapped around Tim's shoulders.

"She'll be like Titan."

"Titan?"

"I mean Atlas… I think… The one who carries the world on his shoulders."

"Sorry, Timmy. I'm not sure which one that is."

"Kay." He sighed and relaxed against the older man.

"Don't fall asleep here. I don't want to carry you home."

"Won't be walking anyway."

"What?"

"Those guys don't look friendly. We're gonna have to jump in someone's taxi and walk from their house." Gavin looked over at the group of young men sat on a nearby table. They were glaring furiously in their direction.

"Good point. We'll go with Molly, she lives near us."

"Sounds like a plan." Tim slurred softly.

"Then you can go to bed."

"You just want me out the way so that you can play Sonic."

"Naturally." Laughed Gavin. "Molly? Do you mind if we jump in your taxi?"

"Sure, but I'm heading out now."

"Thanks. See you guys tomorrow. Keep in touch, Angie."

"Bye."

"See you later."

"Have a good night." The calls came back. Gavin pulled Tim and they followed Molly out to the taxi.

"Love you." Whispered Tim as they collapsed in the taxi.

"Love you too." Gavin replied gently, leaning over to buckle Tim in. Tim gave him a fond smile and Molly turned around to grin at them.


End file.
